What Did Bill Clinton and Kim Jong Il Eat?
We don’t know what Bill Clinton and Kim Jong Il ate during the two-hour-long dinner that ended in the North Korean leader’s decision to release two American journalists who had been imprisoned since March. But we can be sure that they ate well. If it was a former American president’s presence that sealed the deal, the North Korean despot certainly considered it a special occasion–one, it must be said, in a country ravaged by malnutrition and poverty. Clinton’s appetite for food–especially of the fast variety–is well-documented. And while North Korea’s “Dear Leader” is a notorious recluse, reports of his epicurean–and at times bizarre–eating habits have been surfacing in recent years, thanks to revelations from his former chefs. “He particularly enjoyed raw fish so fresh that he could start eating as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing,” said former chef Kenji Fujimoto, who wrote a book called I Was Kim Jong-il’s Cook, which was excerpted in The Atlantic in 2
